Tories have been blasted after a new law banning sex offenders from changing their names was ditched.
Earlier this month the Government announced it was closing a loophole that allowed criminals like Ian Huntley and Rose West to assume a new identity. But this was ditched after Rishi Sunak called a snap General Election – meaning there wasn’t time to force it through.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, who campaigned for years for the legal shakeup, said she was furious. She told The Mirror : “I’m so angry; the Tories stole the glory for all the work I have done with victims and survivors of sex offenders who changed their name to avoid detection, but they couldn’t be bothered to pass the vital legislation to stop it.”
MPs heard fears that dangerous sex offenders can go under the radar by legally changing their names. The Government finally put forward new laws this month requiring such criminals to seek police approval.
Failure to do so would carry a sentence of up to five years, ministers said at the time. But Parliament ran out of time to pass the measure, which was part of the Criminal Justice Bill.
Last year Ms Champion pointed to the case of Soham killer Huntley, who had previously changed his name to Ian Nixon. This meant previous offences didn’t show up in vetting before he was employed as a school caretaker.
He went on to murder schoolgirls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. In 2020 it emerged that Rose West had paid £36 to change her name to Jennifer Jones in an effort to distance herself from her crimes.
She is serving a life sentence after being convicted of 10 murders. Ms Champion said: It’s hugely frustrating, and indeed dangerous, that the Tories dragged their feet on legislation to keep us all safe.
“They have been out of ideas for years but, instead of doing the right thing and passing laws to protect us, they spent parliamentary time on vanity projects and nonsense schemes like Rwanda.” In a letter to Ms Champion when the new legislation was proposed, Home Office minister Laura Farris admitted that few restrictions have previously been placed on an individual’s ability to change their name.
She said the new restrictions would be “targeted at those deemed to pose the greatest risk”. Under the new law – put forward as an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill – sex offenders will have to notify police seven days before they first start using a new name.
This will include aliases and names used online. If they fail to do so, they could be sentenced to up to five years behind bars. Police will be able to refuse such requests – although they will be able to make some exemptions, such as marriage, religious conversion or changing gender.
Ms Farris wrote: “It will enable the police to update intelligence systems and share information with relevant agencies in advance of a new name being used.”